In a Sunburned CountryBy BILL BRYSONReviewed by ANNETTE KOBAK
"The book exudes Bryson's sheer pleasure in the untapped narrative possibilities of [Australia] . . . In return, Australia serves Bryson brilliantly. . . . It wasn't the splendor of the view that prompted his bliss, it was the utter compatibility of his sense of humor with Australia's."
First Chapter: 'In a Sunburned Country'

NONFICTION REVIEWSSydney: The Story of a CityBy GEOFFREY MOORHOUSEReviewed by ANNETTE KOBAK
"The body of the book is a virtuoso exposition of the gritty layers of social history that have formed Sydney . . . With a wealth of narrative detail, Moorhouse shows how Sydney has always been, above all, a workingman's town . . ."

Cruel Banquet: The Life and Loves of Frida StrindbergBy MONICA STRAUSS
Reviewed by BRENDA WINEAPPLE
"Monica Strauss, an independent scholar, now tries to liberate Frida Uhl Strindberg (1872-1943), who suffered the double jeopardy of being the wife of a genius, August Strindberg, and the daughter of a well-known newspaperman."

Touching Peace: From the Oslo Accord to a Final AgreementBy YOSSI BEILIN
Reviewed by AVI SHLAIM
"In his introspective and revealing memoir, Beilin gives a fascinating account of the secret talks that culminated in the Oslo accords . . . [Beilin] deserves the lion's share of the credit for the breakthrough on the Palestinian track."

Genes, Peoples, and Languages By LUIGI LUCA CAVALLI-SFORZA
Reviewed by MARK RIDLEY
"There is no better historical reader of our genes than Cavalli-Sforza . . . The book is written for nonspecialists. . . . It is also a personal book, almost amounting to an intellectual autobiography . . . The ideal author for a personal account."
First Chapter: 'Genes, Peoples, and Languages'

FICTION REVIEWSThe Royal Family By WILLIAM T. VOLLMANN
Reviewed by LAURA MILLER
"A cornucopia of bleeding orifices, abscessed legs, crusted secretions and fetid genitals . . . The spectacle of this potentially fine novel crushed by the weight of its undisciplined author's compulsions is the book's best argument for stripping things down to essentials."
First Chapter: 'The Royal Family'

Grange House By SARAH BLAKE
Reviewed by LAURA JAMISON
"[A] pleasing, intricate first novel . . . Blake has plundered all the best elements of Victorian literature . . . [She] draws nicely on her familiarity with the era . . . She also deftly layers calamities and intrigue."
First Chapter: 'Grange House'

The Lost Legends of New Jersey By FREDERICK REIKEN
Reviewed by GARY KRIST
"Affectionate but tough-minded . . . [Reiken] captures the poetry of the New Jersey condition, circa 1980, with a rare precision. In scene after scene of this novel-in-stories, he gets the amiable melancholy of suburbia exactly right . . ."

At End of Day By GEORGE V. HIGGINS
Reviewed by BRUCE DeSILVA
"The trouble with . . . Higgins's 27th novel, finished just before his death in November, is the trouble with so much of his work. He wrote strong, sometimes brilliant dialogue. But that's about all he did."
Featured Author: George V. Higgins

Grant By MAX BYRD
Reviewed by DANTE RAMOS
"A serious, intricate novel . . . Byrd builds his characters with a remarkable accretion of details . . . Byrd is an expert at linking the products of his own imagination with historical facts . . ."

Grant Speaks By EV EHRLICH
Reviewed by DANTE RAMOS
"Ehrlich gives himself room to tinker with the facts, to clown around . . . His prose style is breezy and almost effortless. Ehrlich writes about his subject with affection and admiration, and he gives his imagination free rein."
First Chapter: 'Grant Speaks'

Watch Your Mouth By DANIEL HANDLER
Reviewed by JENNIFER KRAUSS
"Handler's novel deals with the unreliability of the memoir writer as narrator of his life story . . . A clever premise but [it] often reads like a series of forced one-liners from an overeager stand-up comic."
First Chapter: 'Watch Your Mouth'